Control device for drum drier



Filed Nov. 4, 1953 Sept. 4, 1956 5 N 6 I 4 M f u (L m L M 6 T2 u m W a Ea a 3+ a n 6 0| 2 u m B v \\\MA/\\ '31:: 2' 2 O 2 3 8 United StatesPatent CONTROL DEVICE FOR DRUM DRIER Harold B. Wallis, Dayton, Ohio,assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation ofDelaware Application November 4, 1953, Serial No. 390,204

'1 Claim. c1. s4 53) This invention relates to a domestic appliance andmore particularly to laundry dryers.

Laundry dryers remove moisture from clothes. Some dryers dissipate thismoisture into the air in the room where it may condense on cold wallsand windows. Many owners complain of this and therefore a dryer has beenmade and sold in large quantities in which the moisture is condensed inthe dryer instead of dissipating the moisture into the room. It has beencustomary to provide a removable collecting vessel for disposing of saidcondensed moisture. However, some owners neglect the emptying of thisvessel and under such a circumstance eventually the collecting vesselwill overflow into the room where it may do some damage.

It is an object of my invention to provide means for automaticallyremoving condensed moisture from the dryer as it accumulates.

It is another object of my invention to provide an arrangement whereinthe same timer which is used to control the starting and stopping of thefan, driving motor, and heater is also used to control the starting andstopping of a pump for pumping the condensed moisture from the dryerinto a drain.

To attain this object I provide an additional cam and contacts in thetimer arranged to close the circuit to a small electric motor which isdirectly connected to a small pump having a suction connection connectedto the interior of the collecting vessel and its discharge conduitextending to a suitable drain.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings wherein a preferred form of the invention is clearly shown.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view partly diagrammatic of acondensing type laundry dryer embodying one form of my invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the outlet of the pumpconnected to a laundry tub provided with a drain; and

Figure 3 is a chart showing the times when the blower and drum and theheater of the dryer are operated and also showing the period duringwhich the pump is operated.

Referring now to the drawing and more particularly to Figure 1 there isshown a laundry dryer 20 including a drum casing 22 provided with aperforated rotatable drum 24. The clothes are placed within the drum 24and the drum 24 is rotated by the electric motor 26 through a worm andworm wheel 28 and a belt 30. The clothes are heated by an electricheater 32 connected by the condoctors 34 to one set of contacts upon theautomatic timer 36. The motor 26 is connected by the conductors 38 to asecond set of contacts upon the timer 36. The timer 36 is connected tothe supply conductors 40.

The drum casing 22 is provided with small air inlet apertures 42adjacent the heater 32. The drum casing 'ice 22 is also provided with abottom outlet 44. Communicating with this bottom outlet 44 are thevertical passages of an air cooled condenser 46. The motor 26 isprovided with a fan 48 for drawing cooling air through the condenser 46.When so cooled the condenser 46 condenses moisture driven out of theclothes in the drum 24. The condensed moisture is collected in thecollecting vessel or tray 49 located directly beneath the condenser 46.

To avoid the necessity of manually emptying the vessel 49, I provide asmall pump 50 having a suction inlet tube 52 extending to the bottom ofthe collecting vessel 49. The pump 50 also has an outlet conduit 54extending out the back of the cabinet and provided at its upper end witha gooseneck metal member 56 which is hung over the edge of a laundry tub58. The laundry tub 58 is provided with a suitable drain connection 60.

The pump is preferably of the Moyno rubber worm type such as is shown inPatent 2,527,673 issued October 31, 1950. It is driven by a ,6 H. P.electric motor 62. This motor is connected to the timer by theconductors 64 to an additional set of contacts provided in the timer 36.The timer as shown in the chart Figure 3 causes the operation of the fanand drum and heater throughout the entire operating cycle. Also, asshown in Figure 3, the contacts of the timer 36 which control the pump62 are closed during the latter portion of the laundry cycle. I preferthat the pump be operated in this manner during the last 7 /2 minutes ofeach laundry cycle to remove the condensate from the pan 49 and disposeof it to the drain.

In accordance with the provision of Rule 78a, reference is made to thefollowing prior filed applications, S. N. 338,674 filed February 25,1953, S. N. 298,566 filed July 12, 1952, and S. N. 217,618 filed March26, 1951, now abandoned.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosedconstitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted as may come within the scope of the claim whichfollows.

What is claimed is as follows:

A laundry dryer including a drum casing containing a rotatable drum,heating means for driving moisture out of laundry in the drum, an aircooled condensing means having one set of heat transfer passages incommunication with the interior of the drum casing, fan means forcirculating cooling air into heat exchange relation with said condensingmeans to cool the condensing means to condense moisture from the drumcasing, collecting means for collecting condensed moisture from thecondensing means, a pump for removing moisture from the collectingmeans, electrical operating means for said drum and said fan means, aseparate electrical operating means for said pump, a timing deviceincluding a plurality of contact means separately connected to saidelectrical operating means for said drum and fan means and said heatingmeans and said separate electrical operating means and timing means forclosing said contact means at predetermined times to operate said drumand fan means and said heating means and to close a. separate set ofcontacts connected to said separate electrical operating means for saidpump after the beginning of the operation of said fan means and saidheating means and be fore the termination of the operation thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSHertenstein June 23, 1953 Hammell et a1 July 7, 1953 OTHER REFERENCES

